Dry sank to his belly near the center of the room. He was back in the clubhouse, where things were, usually, safe...ish. About as good as one could expect, really. "You were very brave."
"Had tah be." Apple Bloom smiled at her rattled guest. "But so were you. You were busy bustin' out mah sister, right?"
"Yes... But I wasn't fighting." Dry glanced away. "I didn't go near that devil."
"I didn't want to neither." Apple Bloom snorted at the idea of wanting to be any closer to that particular creature. "And ya got Applejack just in time. Wasn't sure ah could beat it."
Dry sat up slowly. "Where did the others go?"
"Bed." Apple Bloom quirked a little smile. "Scootaloo's resting off that nasty poison. I'd collapse in bed mahself, but this is pretty close, and ah thought we'd talk first."
"Thanks." He coiled on himself, pulling out the slim sheets, his photos. "Fluttershy didn't want these." He set down the pictures he had taken that day, many involving the devil they had just left.
Apple Bloom winced softly. "Yeah, see... Tough memories, not everypony wants to face those." She hopped up suddenly, scampering over to Dry. "But, sometimes, they're the most important ones." She pointed at the pictures. "Some ponies want to remember the good times. Makes sense yeah?"
"Yeah." Dry set a hoof on a picture that captured the whole of the devil without things in the way, a full straight shot at just the right moment. "This tells me what to avoid. That's good."
"It is." Apple Bloom nodded. "You got a real survivalist thin' goin' on." She patted her guest on the head, fluffing his wispy mane in the process. "Ya should keep it then. Just don't wave it at Fluttershy. Not her thing. Only scary animals does she like at all." Her nose suddenly scrunched. "Amazin' how much she likes scary animals."
"I will have to find one then. Carefully..." He nudged the pictures aside. "Are you alright?"
"I didn't get stung," she reported proudly. "The rest was just a potion or two away from fixin' up. Stung at the time, sure, but it's all good new." She thumped her chest, pride shining. "Ain't gonna give up when mah friends are in danger none. And you didn't either!" She turned that hoof on Dry. "You were very brave."
Dry licked over his lips, processing the day. "I... saw that pony being hurt. I don't even know her name." He dragged a hoof down along his face. "I just didn't want her to be hurt anymore. I stopped hiding."
"Right good thing ya did too." Apple Bloom frowned softly. "Can't 'magine that woulda ended well for that mare. You saved her, Dry. Yer a right hero." She could see him shrinking. "Ain't no use denyin' it. Not like bein' a hero's a bad thing."
"It's a very dangerous thing." He wriggled free of the camera, setting it where it could safely rest for the evening.
Twilight shook her head the boney creature. "I'm sorry, but this really isn't your world."
"I've been to several," assured the devil. "Some truths remain constant between them. Mortal, always thinking your world is the center."
"Be that as it may, Equestria is a... special case." She flashed a smile, pride swelling in response to her home nation. "Our rulers are not only allied, but dear friends of one another. The 'common folk' feel no urge to conspire against us, because we genuinely work for their best interest. And no matter how many ways you try to ask, I have no tawdry secrets that'd do more than make me embarrassed, to no other effect, should they get out." She leveled a hoof at the devil. "If you insist on telling the world about that time I returned a book late, I would be irate, but I would survive, and society would not collapse."
The devil grumbled miserably. The creature before him was either an innocent creature, or the best liar he had ever seen. The first idea filled him with revulsion, the second... A good liar often hid things worth hiding. "Just because your past is clean does not mean the same for others. You are confident in your own actions, good. A ruler should be." He leaned forward, fingers steepled meaningfully. "But can you be that sure of everyone else?"
Twilight took a slow and shaking breath. "Pressed... I... am sure Princess Celestia has done things she would rather forget. She fostered this nation through dark times, before we grew as a people. I would not unleash you on her just to learn of the painful past she has earned the right to put aside."
Now they were getting somewhere. "My name."
"Hm?"
"I will give you my name. Zahrab Ignis. Remember it well, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Celestia... Hm, what secrets she hides."
Twilight's horn began to glow with the promise of power. "Be at ease. Go ahead, send me home. But when you want to know the truth, call me."
"Goodbye." bade Twilight, severing the thin thread that kept the devil tethered to the world that was not his own. He vanished as if someone had made an editing error, simply not there anymore. "I will not be calling." She shook her head with a scowl and went off to find a notebook. She had new notes to make!
A knocking came from the door leading into the clubhouse. Dry stirred from where he had dozed off, but he didn't know who it was. He was safe under the shielding blanket at least!
The door opened. "Ya in here?" It was Applejack.
Dry scrambled into clear view. "Hello." Applejack was a good pony, this he was sure of.
"Hey there," she returned fire with a smile. "Good to see yer lookin' alright."
"I'm okay." He trotted towards her, tail twitching. "You do not come here often."
"Nah, mostly let the girls have their fun." she waved it off. "But today was special, weren't it? Ah brought a pony what wanted to talk to ya. She's right outside."
Dry leaned to see past Applejack, but couldn't see who the mystery pony was. "Are they nice?"
"Mostly." Applejack smirked softly. "She's not a big fan of apples, but I didn't want her hurt none, so thanks fer that."
Her?! Dry hurried suddenly right under Applejack, charging for the door. There, at the bottom of the ramp, was a nervous looking strawberry farmer. "Hello!"
Strawberry Sunrise raised a hoof in reply. "You're so small," she noted with her usual blunt tact.
Dry colored. "I'm still growing!"
"You're already plenty big." When Dry arrived in front of her, Strawberry reached out, setting a hoof on his head. "You saved my flank. I thought that thing was gonna tear me apart!"
"Are you alright?" Dry was leaning left and right, looking at Strawberry from all the angles he could from his seated position. "You look alright."
"Because I am, physically at least." She shuddered softly. "Creepy thing. Glad it's gone! Not like you; you're a cute little thing." She grasped Dry by the cheeks. "But also kinda strange? What are you anyway?"
"I'm a ghost pony." He nodded firmly. "From another world." He waved a hoof out vaguely. "Not Equestria."
"He ain't lyin'." Applejack had joined them, parking herself next to dry. "He's from a world ah done been to before, Everglow. Right dangerous place, also where that varmint came from ah think."
"Sorta..." Dry did not even try to break down the related cosmologies around Everglow. "Everglow is dangerous. So is Equestria." He rubbed a cheek with a hoof. "So is everyplace, so far."
"Well." Strawberry leaned in, almost touching noses. "You made this world at least a little safer, so, a gift!" She coiled on herself and drew out a little basket overflowing with strawberries. "Hope you like these little treasures."
Dry accepted it, biting the handle. He could smell the strawberries, tickling his nose. "Smells good! Did you grow these?"
"I certainly did." Strawberry nodded with confidence. "And it's thanks to you that I get to keep doing that. Figure you deserve a break from all the apples they're probably feeding you." She stuck out her tongue at the mention of apples, meeting Applejack's eyes as she said it in open challenge.
Applejack snorted softly in reply. "Yer lucky ah'm busy feelin' bad fer you. Now ya done made your peace?"
Strawberry smooched the top of Dry's head. "You go on and enjoy."
"I will! Be safe, um, miss?"
"Strawberry Sunrise," offered the farmer. "Strawberry's just fine, or berry." She turned to display her cutiemark, that of a strawberry and a bushel of grapes. "They haven't invented a berry I don't like."
"And not an apple she did like," huffed Applejack.
"Oh, I Iike Apples, capital A, just fine." She patted Applejack on the shoulder. "It's the apples, lowercase a, that give... me concern. Go on." She shooed Dry away. "Try it and you tell me later which is better."
Detecting the tension between the two mares, Dry decided to accept the invitation to scamper away back up into the clubhouse.
Strawberry watched him go. When the door closed, she looked to Applejack. "I know you came a running. I'm not blind." She coiled and drew out a second berry basket. "You deserve a treat too. Thanks."
Applejack quirked a smile at that. "I woulda done it for anypony ah knew was is in trouble, and that there was a mighty big bit of trouble."
"Right!?" gusted Strawberry, shaking her head. "Hope that never happens again. Now take it." She thrust the basket forward, leaning her head forward to do so. "Besides, you could use more variety in your diet."
Applejack snapped up the basket. "This comin' from the mare what eats berries all day?"
"We all have our favorites." Strawberry seemed entirely untouched by Applejack's retort. "When did your little sister get so... bulky?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "She getting bad advice from Biceps?"
Applejack applied a hoof to her face. "Nice seein' yer all safe n' sound!"
Dry set down the basket, tilting his head left and right as he considered it. The odds of the basket being a threat, basically zero. The strawberries? Unlikely. Applejack surely wouldn't have allowed anything she suspected of being bad for someone to be passed right in front of her.
Still, of all the plants and fruits that could survive in the ether, strawberries were not one of them. He reached out and gently bopped one, sending it rolling on the floor for him to follow after. It smelled nice, and where he had struck it, a new, more intense, smell came. Sweet. He licked his lips with a little hum. "I will trust her."
He went through all that trouble of rescuing her... Not that he expected anything back, really, other than her being safe for one more day. He snapped up the berry, teeth holding it around the middle. With a wet slice, he bit down, cutting the innocent strawberry in half. The other half feel free of his mouth to the floor. The first half, he began to chew on thoughtfully, tasting the various components of what made a strawberry work.
It was just as sweet as it smelled! The seeds that covered it barely had a flavor at all, but the green bit at the top was a surprisingly tasty bit of veggies on top of the otherwise sweet mass.
Yes, a strawberry was a fine treat! Dry leaned down, snapping up the discarded half to finish with a happy little noise. But how did it compare to an apple? Softer and smaller. An apple he could crunch into. Strawberries he could almost inhale. Apples felt closer to the center of a meal, while strawberries felt way more like dessert.
But which was better? Dry frowned softly. Some questions were too big for a foal! He liked them both, he silently decided. They were both super tasty.